It seems that the spirit of COP26 is still alive and well in Edinburgh. For the SNP’s parliamentarians have begun recycling their speeches at Holyrood, regardless of the occasion. Amid claims that the Scottish nationalists are nothing but a bunch of unthinking, zombie–like drones, blindly following the latest directive from Bute House, backbencher Willie Coffey MSP has decided to, er, conform exactly to type.
For the Kilmarnock MSP caused laughter in the Scottish parliament yesterday by delivering a concluding speech when standing up to introduce a debate. Coffey opened his closing remarks by saying:
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thought that I was closing the debate, so this is a closing speech, as I am sure members will soon hear… From my perspective, the debate has been immensely constructive, and I hope that it has been helpful in shaping the final version of NPF4, and a planning system and culture well-suited to delivering on its ambitions. Before reflecting on some of the contributions to this afternoon’s debate, which I am about to hear-
Sadly, it seems that the creativity which has characterised so many of his government’s blunders eluded Coffey on this occasion as he persisted with his set script like some Brezhnev-era apparatchik. Such was the mockery among Coffey’s unionist colleagues that the SNP MSP was eventually stopped by the deputy presiding officer, who intervened to ‘pause you there.’
Delivering a conclusion before the debate has even been heard? What better way to illustrate the lamentable state of debate in Nicola Sturgeon’s Scotland – and the unthinking, inflexible approach of so many of her MSPs.
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